Strategic Steps to Conduct a Successful Workplace Investigation

A workplace investigation is important and should be conducted whenever you receive a complaint from an employee. But why is it essential? And what happens after a workplace investigation has taken place? Well, you will be able to know about the severity of the problem. It will then allow you to take the necessary actions to resolve the issue as soon as possible. Once the problem has been resolved, you can make sure that it doesn’t happen again so that the rest of the employees can remain safe. With that said, let’s take a look at 10 steps that can help you conduct an effective workplace investigation.

#1. Determine If Its Important to Investigate

Before you put on your detective’s hat, ask yourself if the issue that you have been reported with is really worth investigating. For instance, if all the employees are in agreement with what happened or if the issue appears to be minor then you may choose to avoid investigating the problem. However, if the problem is serious then you must do a full-blown workplace investigation. And if you don’t then this may get you into legal troubles. Also, sometimes it is hard to figure out how widespread the issue is until you decide to poke around.

#2. Take Action Immediately, If Need Be!

If you have encountered a situation that is volatile and can cause harm, you might have to take an action immediately before you can even commence with your investigation. For instance, if an employee has been accused of stealing your company’s trade secrets or harassing a coworker, then you probably would want to terminate the individual temporarily while you investigate the matter. However, you have to be careful here. You should not do anything that might make you seem like you have already made up your mind regarding the situation.

#3. Take Help from an Investigator

If you can’t do the investigation yourself then you can always take a help of a professional. If you have anyone on your payroll who is trained in investigation techniques and can also testify in court then good for you! If not, then you can consider hiring a professional who can handle things for you.

#4. Decide Your Investigation Plan

After you have thought ahead with the investigation, then the first thing you should do is to make a plan. It is suggested to take some time to organize your thoughts and then start gathering as much information as you can about the problem. This can include written warnings, a supervisor’s report, or an employee complaint. You can then use this information as a guide and then think about what you will need to find out to know what happened. Also, ask yourself some questions like whom will you call for the interview and what will you ask. All this will be a part of your investigation plan.

#5. Start Interviewing

In order to successfully conduct an investigation, you will need proper information, and what better to get that than to interviewing people. When it comes to investigations, two interviews should be done; one should be of the employee who has been accused and the other of the accuser. If you want to gather more information, then it is recommended to interview witnesses who might have heard or seen something important.

#6. Collect Evidence

The collection of evidence is an important part of the investigation. And here is a little fact that you might know; almost every investigation relies on documents such as email messages, personnel files, correspondence, and company policies, etc. Also, there will be some investigations that will require you to collect other types of evidence like photographs, drugs, stolen items, or a weapon.

#7. Evaluate the Information

Perhaps one of the most difficult things to do in an investigation is to figure out what happened when witnesses disagree with each other. But don’t worry! There are some ways that can help you figure out the truth. But here, you will have to do your own judgment and would require to evaluate the information gathered. You will have to see whose story is making more sense or whose demeanor was most convincing. Also, you have to know who will have a motive to deceive you.

#8. Take Action

Once you know what happened, you will have to figure out what kind of action to take. If the issue is serious, then you must take strict disciplinary action so that you may protect your employee from such incidences in the future.

#9. Prepare A Report

After the investigation is complete, you should prepare a report which should include all the necessary details about the situation and the action that you took to resolve the problem. This will be helpful to you. How? Well, first of all, it is going to protect your company from lawsuits relating to the investigation. Secondly, it will provide a written record if the same employee does the same misconduct in the future.

#10. Follow Up

This is the last step. All you have to do here is to follow up with your employees to make sure that the issue which led to the investigation has been resolved for good. Also, this will help you know if the misconduct has stopped completely. If the situation was not serious, then you can think about conducting a training session for the wrongdoer so the individual might know what to do and avoid in the workplace.

Conclusion

Conducting a workplace investigation is important if in case an employee reports a serious issue. This will make the workers more secure and would feel like you truly care for them. Hence, whenever a situation arises where it becomes necessary to conduct an investigation, then it is recommended to follow the above-mentioned steps so you may complete the process without any hassles.